PF5 Problems & Errors: Report & Discuss

[Klystron]

Incorrect 'Like' appears on the first post in this thread https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/atoms-and-black-holes.978654/

I was logged off PF when this thread was started, my laptop shut off for routine maintenance. Did not read thread until this afternoon 8 Oct 2019 PDT when I noticed a 'Like' which I removed. I might have attributed the Like to clumsy touch screen navigation on my part since the thread makes no sense, except that I was logged out over night. Curious.

 

[andrewkirk]

I just now experienced really weird behaviour when editing a post I had already posted, that contained in-line latex code, and somebody posted to that thread while I was editing.
The screen flashed and the whole page updated, the result being that all in-line latex had been irreversibly converted to the maths characters they represent, and the inline latex delimiters had disappeared.

That happened to https://www.physicsforums.com/posts/6247358/bookmark. I've fixed it now, but it took a while to work out what was going on. I ended up having to repair the post using an off-line latex editor, then quickly paste the text back in and save before another post from somebody else could come in and wreck it.

I suppose this had not been noticed previously because it requires three things to come together:

1. Editing a previous post
2. The post contains in-line latex
3. Somebody else posts to the thread while doing the above.

Even to reproduce the issue, you'd need to do 1 and 2 and then ask a friend to post to the thread while you are doing that. Or do the test in a thread where there is a constant flurry of activity.

It would be nice if it could be fixed. If not, perhaps a warning could be put up, that editing one's posts is risky if they contain latex.

This happened in Edge browser on Windows 10.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

@Charles Link is above the issue we were exploring awhile back?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I have faced this too, but didn't get a chance to write here. I had written a thread with lot of LaTeX. After posting, I found some errors in the OP and edited it. When I saved, the page updated, with all latex being converted to the maths characters they represent. It was a long post, and unfortunately I didn't have a copy of the LaTeX code. Finally I requested a deletion of the thread. This was about a month ago.

 

[Charles Link]

@Charles Link is above the issue we were exploring awhile back?

Yes, I experienced this same thing quite a number of times. I haven't had the problem for a couple months now, but I haven't posted much in the last two months. And it was rather problematic when it did happen=a long post with a lot of Latex would take a long time to convert it back to Latex, only to find the Latex disappear again before all the corrections were made. Like @andrewkirk I had to edit one post by starting a new thread and getting it completely correct before posting. Trying to make one simple correction to a post could cause the complete Latex to crash again.

 

[fresh_42]

A workaround would be to hit Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C after the edit command and keep it in the buffer.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

My problem is that sometimes when I edit a post, if I attempt to italicize, bold or underline even a single word or letter, then everything following also gets italicize or bolded or underlined.

I experimented with this post, but the problem failed to show up here. Murphy's Law.

In the post
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...in-an-expanding-universe.978978/#post-6247686when I tried to bold "understanding" the problem showed up.

 

[OCR]

My problem is that sometimes when I edit a post, if I attempt to italicize, bold or underline even a single word or letter, then everything following also gets italicize or bolded or underlined.

Yeah. . . same here, it's been discussed.Minor format changes that propagate to later paragraphs:

.

 

[BvU]

Alerts from mentors remain unread, even if read.
Only way to mark them as read is to mark ALL alerts as read, which is annoying.
Can we at least have a link 'Mark as read' next to alerts like

Your recent report has been resolved: Post in thread tadadada - Thanks, deleted with infraction

in the alerts pulldown (and, dare I ask, in the your account > Alerts page) ?

 

[phinds]

Alerts from mentors remain unread, even if read.

I too find this very annoying. There is a work-around involving preferences but such a waste of time.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Links in Share this Page are no longer visible:

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Links in Share this Page are no longer visible:

hmm I see them, is it on a specific page?

 

[Tom.G]

Works here with an OLD version(43) of Firefox.
EDIT: Well, 'Share this post' works. Haven't found 'Share this page.'

 

[OCR]

Links in Share this Page are no longer visible:

Using an adblocker, Wrichik ?
My adblocker on. . .

My adblocker off. . .

.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Using an adblocker, Wrichik ?
My adblocker on. . .

View attachment 251900My adblocker off. . .

View attachment 251901

.

Thanks, probem solved. I had whitelisted PF, but it seems that the plugin has reset itself without telling me.

 

[fresh_42]

I have found something very strange. Note the name of the vanishing set!

1. Chrome - before interpreted

2. Chrome - after fully loaded (and interpreted)

3. Opera

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I have found something very strange. Note the name of the vanishing set!

Can you link to the post?

 

[fresh_42]

Can you link to the post?

It was an Insight article (chapter "Eigen World" in the lower half):
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/hilbert-spaces-relatives-part-ii/

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

It was an Insight article (chapter "Eigen World" in the lower half):
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/hilbert-spaces-relatives-part-ii/

hmmm I see the equation using Chrome 77

 

[fresh_42]

I haven't checked it on a "naked" version of chrome, so it might well be due to an add-on.
I use version 78.

But why this specific formula? And why can it still be recovered via the process: mark and show Math as TeX commands? I stumbled upon it by chance and wanted to correct it as I saw it didn't need a correction. And it is reproducible: loaded correctly, interpreted wrongly.

It probably doesn't need fixing, but it's "funny" and / or "annoying" in a way. I would normally say "tell the developers", but as it is worldpress ...
Maybe I should send a note to Google. Not that this would change a lot ...

 

[Tom.G]

Shows here on an old, Ver.43 Firefox.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Shows here on an old, Ver.43 Firefox.

That's 4 years old, why not update?

 

[Tom.G]

That's 4 years old, why not update?

That requires updating Windows version - that requires replaceing printers, scanner, etc, because drivers are not available for newer Windows - then there are some commercial applications that would need replacing; overall a few $,$$$.

Also, much of the customization I've done for convenient workflow and maintenance is not available because current versions have locked down customization to reduce support needs, and for "improved security." For instance printers used to allow specifying custom paper sizes and margins, from what I've found, that is rare these days.

Overall, "It works for me"... most of the time.

 

[Orodruin]

Overall, "It works for me"... most of the time.

https://xkcd.com/1172/

 

[OCR]

Workflow

Lol. . .

.

 

[Tom.G]

This is one is a bit closer to what happens.
https://xkcd.com/1174/
I recently tried to order some Hard Disk Drives from the manufacturer. After each step in the process was filled in, there was a "Continue" button. I got thru the
Model No.
Quantity
Name & Address
Payment Method
Clicking the Continue button after each.

That last one would high-light but do nothing else. Wouldn't even send anything over the Internet. Therefore I couldn't get to Place Order.

I tried this on two computers and 5 browsers, no luck.
I tried their Customer Service and they have no way to order by phone.
I finally grabbed my wife's tablet and placed the order.

I'm not sure whether to call this "Advance to The Rear" or "Progress, Our Most Important By-product".

Ordinarily, I would find a different supplier. In this case other sources were 27% higher. And by Creating Account on their site, they took off another 10%.

Oh well.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Awhile back we removed the base URL for the "Forum" navigation link forcing the drop down every time. Unknown to me this actually messed up our breadcrumb navigation because the root breadcrumb inherits the URL from the "Forum" navigation link. For now, I've restored the link so to get the drop down items you must click the down arrow. I am looking for another solution.

 

[fresh_42]

If I may suggest three changes for a future version, I'd like to say

• A cancel button in the reply mode which deletes the edit field from the buffer would be great. I often use it if I want to copy something, because +quote does not work as it destroys the MathJax code. Unfortunately this keeps the entire thing in the buffer if I return later. Sometimes I delete the edit box manually, insert ".", and keep it open for a while, just to "delete" this buffer.
• A navigation path back from the page "Watched threads" to e.g. "Threads with no replies" (1) would be great. Now we have only the general frame, no sub-navigation as on (1).
• A post-wise "mark read" option in the drop down menu of the "Alert" button would be convenient.

 

[phinds]

• A cancel button in the reply mode which deletes the edit field from the buffer would be great.

Indeed !

 

[BvU]

How come a user name without any J gets a default avater with a J ?

 

[mfb]

The J is not in the current username

 

[gleem]

Currently 3:26 EDT navigating on forum takes many minutes. e.g. it took 7 minutes to access this thread.

 

[gleem]

Currently 3:26 EDT navigating on forum takes many minutes. e.g. it took 7 minutes to access this thread.

 

[fresh_42]

Currently 3:26 EDT navigating on forum takes many minutes. e.g. it took 7 minutes to access this thread.

The webserver had good response times, but the database was very busy I guess.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Sorry all, I ran some cleanup processes I didn't expect to be so tough on the server.